Captain Jebediah pilots the Civvie Production model on its second test flight with some control adjustments and also does some performance handling review
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Kerbal Space Agency
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here's the full report from Jeb's flight test earlier 2day, which went very well overall but did uncover some issues bit.ly/Genesis-PR3
Kerbal Space Agency
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C7 says they will be working on the control cabling today and tomorrow with the hopes of sending the Civvie out for another test on Thursday
Kerbal Space Agency
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HAB says Civvie ctrl cabling rework coming along nicely, C7 relieved they can get the trim/stick ctrls playing nice w/o a major redesign
Kerbal Space Agency
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we have wind whipping through at 15-20kts & storms coming our way from Kravass. Hopefully better weather later today for Civvie flight trial
Kerbal Space Agency
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weather is clearing up and we have GO for Civvie Production model test flight #2 under command of Capt Jeb to depart after 3rd sunrise
Kerbal Space Agency
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after suiting up over in the Astronaut Complex ready room Jeb is off to Flight Control to get his briefing from the C7 Aerospace team
Kerbal Space Agency
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today's flight will check out tweaks made to the control cables & assuming that is good, some flight envelope performance tests as well
Kerbal Space Agency
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fired up and ready to go! We've re-mounted the cameras, a different viewpoint for the forward-facing cam now over the nose rather than body
Kerbal Space Agency
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Jeb says he hit a hole or soft spot on turf Rwy27 that bounced him into the air - luckily just as he reached takeoff speed. Is airborne okay
Kerbal Space Agency
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Civvie is thru 1km climbing for 2.5km & like last flight will fly runway hdg to 2km then turn SW to avoid mtns. Jeb will trim lvl @ 2.5km
Kerbal Space Agency
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32km from KSC the aircraft is trimmed to level flight @ 2.5km (+/-50m) traveling at >100m/s w/ 66% thrust. Jeb says controls working great
Kerbal Space Agency
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Jeb just tried to snap a photo, he can now control & send us pics from the cams, however says no response from either one. Glitch! Bummer :/
Kerbal Space Agency
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Civvie is performing great, so Flight has instructed Jeb to come about & setup for flight envelope testing, starting with stalls from 3.5km
Kerbal Space Agency
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Civvie dropped like a feather from 3.5km to 3km w/nose held full up & throttle to idle. Vertical speed never exceeded gear tolerances!
Kerbal Space Agency
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Jeb just completed L/R steep turns w/ 45° angle of bank. No problems, attitude was stable w/o any feeling like it wanted to roll over
Kerbal Space Agency
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4Gs recorded for tight high-speed turns w/ 70-80° bank. Looking great! Big test is next. Jeb climbing now for a full throttle dive from 4km
Kerbal Space Agency
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WHOOOOO! Jeb pulled out of the dive w/ a brief force upwards of 10Gs after reaching >200m/s! Wings/ctrl surfaces all still attached. *phew*!
Kerbal Space Agency
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Jeb has begun his final descent to land back at KSC, flying a tighter pattern this time north of us, with right-turns to land on Rwy27
Kerbal Space Agency
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on base leg now 5km out Civvie approach looking good. We now have a small boat we purchased standing by to assist should any aircraft ditch
Kerbal Space Agency
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taxiing back in after landing, Jeb touched down slightly faster than last time but still w/in limits. Engineers eager to pour over flt data
Kerbal Space Agency
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C7 engineers worked late studying the results of today's flight test & are pleased w/ results! Read more about it: bit.ly/Genesis-PR4
Kerbal Space Agency
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you can check the link in prev tweet for more analysis but here is the profile and highlights from Jeb's extreme dive & recovery maneuver
Kerbal Space Agency
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now that the new Civvie is flight-certified, we have already begun working on scheduling some missions to work through our contract backlog
